I have been following with interest the newspaper reports and development of the zoonotic disease leptospirosis with keen interest over the last couple of months.
According to news reports the focus of the ‘outbreak’ has been attributed to the contamination of the environment by rat urine. Since rats are natural reservoirs of this pathogenic organism, naturally to a certain degree we can incriminate the rats for the present outbreak.
However, we should also realise that the epidemiology of leptospirosis may have been modified over the years due to changes in animal husbandry, human activities and climate changes in the country. I suspect the recent outbreaks of leptospirosis may have something do with animal husbandry activities in the countryside.
A study conducted several years ago in Malaysia by Bahaman, et al from UPM indicated significant prevalence of leptospirosis infection among cattle (40.5%) buffaloes (31%) and pigs (16%) in the country then.
The veterinary scientist in his concluding remarks cautioned that domestic animals in Malaysia will play a bigger role in the epidemiology of leptospiral infection with increase livestock farming activities in the future.
Similar studies conducted in other countries have also highlighted the role of livestock husbandry, especially cattle rearing to the surge of leptospirosis outbreaks in humans.
Many of those involved in water and other recreational activities don't realise that lakes, streams, rivers and waterfalls which are located along the country sides may be contaminated with livestock sludge that may have run off after a heavy downpour upstream.
An infected cow, goat or pig can pass several litres of urine per day loaded with disease-causing spirochetes and other pathogenic organisms. Imagine the kind of contamination the immediate environment is subjected too if a cattle farm upstream has several leptospirosis positive animals. I also understand there are no specific leptosprosis vaccination programme for livestock to control the disease.
The chances of rats contaminating a vast area is rather limited by their size and urine output. However, livestock such as cattle, goats and pigs tend to pose a much more serious threat to the environment by virtue of their ability to pass out greater quantity of infected urine.
The situation is made worse with the kind of animal husbandry practices we see in some places in the country today. Some of the farms located closer to water bodies have very rudimentary sanitary infrastructure which further facilitates the wide spread of the animal borne organisms.
In some farms, practically all the animal waste some how find their way into the rivers, lakes, streams etc downstream invariably contaminating these water bodies. If the conditions in the environment favour the survival and multiplication of these pathogenic organisms then it thrives well in it.
I, therefore, urge the relevant authorities among other things to also focus their investigation on the role of livestock farming activities in the country to the recent leptospiral (bacteria) contamination in our water bodies.
As much as we continue to encourage livestock farming activities in the country it is also important that we take note of the public health risks posed by some of the unregulated farming activities.
I understand the government has allocated sizeable funding in the budget for the development of the livestock industry. With this funding we can expect the farming activities to expand and this is where the authorities must ensure farming activities do not pose a danger to the environment and public health.
I suggest the authorities make it mandatory for all those who are interested in investing in semi or intensive livestock farming to submit a EIA report before the project is approved.
